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Should It Have Counted This Time?

Yesterday, in the bleary aftermath of a 15-inning All-Star Game that clocked in at, nearly five hours, the Fixers expressed their wish that the game had gone on long enough to require pitching from position players. That was our wish as fans of the novel and the humorous. Were we major-league managers, we’d feel differently. And the notion that the likes of David Wright and Evan Longoria might have risked injury by trying to throw out All-Star batters — with home-field advantage in the World Series on the line — has caused some critics to rethink the whole thing.

Scott Kazmir wasn’t supposed to pitch but short stints for his fellow All-Stars forced him into the game. (Getty Images)

New York Post columnist Mike Vaccaro suggests reversing commissioner Bud Selig’s six-season-old innovation and losing the All-Star stakes, because the true stars weren’t around to decide Tuesday/Wednesday’s game. “What the 2008 All-Star Game devolved into — besides a surreal war of attrition — was an endless string of Dan Uggla errors, lonely runners stranded in scoring position, and a lot of match-ups between Aaron Cook and Michael Young, Joakim Soria and Corey Hart, and George Sherrill and Ryan Ludwick,” Mr. Vaccaro writes. “All due respect to those players, they earned their spot here. But is this really the way to determine the site of a seventh game?”

Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan says it was the All-Star managers’ own fault for insisting on Little League tactics when a Major League outcome was at stake. His suggestion? “Set a rule where one pitcher needs to go at least three innings and two more have to pitch at least two,” he writes. “All-Star games used to work that way before they turned into big-boy versions of Little League, where everyone’s got to play. Well, congratulations. Everyone did. And look what happened. Nate McLouth almost pitched. ‘That’s fine if you want to see 81 (mph),’ the Pittsburgh center fielder said.”

The Fix is sympathetic to these gripes, but we enjoyed the spectacle. And surely center fielders pitching to center fielders to settle a tie is closer to regulation baseball than penalty kicks are to soccer. We’ve also seen twice as many one-run games in the six years since the infamous 2002 All-Star tie than we did in the 13 years preceding it. “This All-Star Game wasn’t just played, it was seriously contested,” Michael Wilbon writes in the Washington Post. “There were successful sacrifice attempts, stolen bases, tight plays at the plate, tough managerial decisions, even umpire errors. The only thing missing was the managers didn’t come out and raise hell like they normally would. But there was no mistaking [Derek] Jeter standing on that top dugout step, peering over the railing for the entire five hours, rooting for the AL as if it were a deciding game in the World Series.”

Besides, the current system of assigning home-field advantage in October beats the old one, which alternated that edge between the leagues from year to year. “How was the old way any better? It put the A’s in Dodger Stadium for the Series opener in 1988, against a team that won 10 fewer games in the regular season,” Gwen Knapp writes in the San Francisco Chronicle. “Would Kirk Gibson still have hit that iconic home run in the Coliseum? Hard to say. But if he had, the momentum would not have been nearly so devastating to the A’s, who lost in L.A. the next night and then dropped the Series in five games. Nobody thought to fight then for scheduling changes to favor the team with the better regular-season record. No one thought to change the Series schedule at all until the All-Star Game devolved into a bore requiring a competitive kick. Selig boosted both the Series and the All-Star Game out of bad patterns in 2002. The result isn’t ideal, but neither are umpires, and look at the outcry over the prospect of instant reply. And for the record, the current system would have helped Oakland in 1988. The American League won the All-Star Game 2-1. Terry Steinbach, the A’s catcher, knocked in both runs.”

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Which AL team is going to make use of that home-field advantage in the World Series? Can anyone challenge the Cubs in the NL Central? And can the Rays keep up their first-half success? See the Daily Fix’s seasonlong baseball contest update for more questions and answers about the season’s first half, and what’s to come.

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You may have heard that Yankee Stadium was hosting its last All-Star Game this week. Detroit’s Tiger Stadium won’t have that honor; it’s already being destroyed. “From the freeway at dusk, Tiger Stadium looks like some grotesque road kill, spilling twisted metal and frayed aluminum, as clouds hover and the machines gnaw,” Bob Wojnowski writes in the Detroit News. “If you have the time, if you believe that paying last respects serves the mourner as well as the mourned, come spend one more night at the Old Ballpark.”

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Major League Soccer is holding its own All-Star Game in Toronto next week, but Toronto Star columnist Cathal Kelly isn’t excited. You see, MLS for the last two years has scrapped the interleague nature of most All-Star games in favor of matchup pitting the league’s best against European clubs. “In the lead-up to this event, MLS was tossing out blockbuster dance partners: Barcelona and Liverpool and so on,” Mr. Kelly writes. “A few weeks later, we were looking at Werder Bremen and Newcastle. All right, not quite so thrilling, but still mildly tingly. In the end, we get West Ham. Thanks for nothing. We get the feeling West Ham feels the same.”

* * *

John Daly stole headlines for his pre-British Open comments that his former coach, Butch Harmon, exaggerated Mr. Daly’s drinking problems. Sports Illustrated’s Damon Hack says golf is getting sick of Daly stories. “His professional career has become a sideshow, so much so that tournament directors who once threw sponsor’s exemptions his way are now giving them to others. Daly says the reason the exemptions have dried up is because he isn’t playing well. Truth is, having Daly in the field is a risk. Will he show up with red scratches on his face, marks he accused his wife of making with a steak knife, as he did in Memphis last year? Will he miss the pro-am and get kicked out of the tournament, as he did at the Arnold Palmer Invitational this year? It is amazing to think that three years ago at Harding Park in San Francisco, Woods and Daly went head to head in a playoff. Woods prepared for the extra holes with a sports drink. Daly lit a cigarette. No need to ask who won.”

Mr. Daly, who finished the first round at +10, has about as good a chance as the idle Woods does of winning the Claret Jug. Who will win? Fix golf guru Tim Carroll handicaps the field.

* * *

Ex-baseball broadcaster Jocko Maxwell died Wednesday morning. He was 100.

Mr. Maxwell deserves to be in the Hall of Fame for his efforts to bring attention to the Negro Leagues, Jerry Izenberg writes in the Newark Star-Ledger. “Jocko was on his own mission. He let the world know what was going on in places like Ruppert Stadium and Forbes Field and Comiskey Park when the ‘other’ teams (which meant blacks) took over from the regular tenants. And in his way, he made the part of America that would listen know all about these black knights of the open road. And then America changed … slowly … grudgingly … on tip-toes. And after Jackie and Larry, the others came. But the beauty of Jocko, once that struggle was over, was that to him, all who followed were neither black nor white. What they were, were ballplayers.”

– Tip of the Fix cap to reader Don Hartline.

Found a good column from the world of sports? Don’t keep it to yourself — write to us at dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix.

Comments (5 of 12)

What's wrong with the Hammers? They are a solid mid-table team in the best league in the world. Should be a good game. I am tuning in next Thursday. BTW, watching the Crew/Wizards game at the moment. A good one, 5 goals before half time.

6:07 pm July 17, 2008

Wasserman wrote:

If they really were playing the All Star game as a competitive game, they would leave the starters in the whole game. Instead, they try to get everyone in. It's still just an exhibition game, and shouldn't be given more importance than that.

5:44 pm July 17, 2008

Chris wrote:

Even if it is Hammer Time, please don't riot in Toronto.

5:27 pm July 17, 2008

CR (Gus) Manning wrote:

There is no doubt that this year's All-Star game was one of the best in years. Mike Vaccaro (NY) got it all wrong in wining about the game's outcome not being determined by the "biggest stars" … typical New York mentality. Didn’t he ever hear of Bucky Dent, Gene Tenace, and Mark Lemke … on, and on.

Michael Wilbon (WASH) was on the money as you quoted when he said:"This All-Star Game wasn’t just played, it was seriously contested,” Michael Wilbon writes in the Washington Post. “There were successful sacrifice attempts, stolen bases, tight plays at the plate, tough managerial decisions, even umpire errors."

Lots of sports fans don't want to watch the biggest egos parading around, fawning over themselves for days, and then playing in half-assed fashion in a game that nobody is even trying to win. For people who want that, we already have the NBA and NFL All-Star games, plus all the Awards Shows.

Did the Managers manage the game correctly? Maybe not. Is Bud Selig's incentive the best possible one? Maybe not. I think a lot of those guys would play hard if the only incentive was that the losers had to buy beer for the winners. But, bottom line, the players have to care about winning or the game is nothing … that is, like the All-Star games in all the other professional sports.

5:08 pm July 17, 2008

Alex wrote:

What's interesting about your comment about the MLS game is out of all the clubs you listed the Hammers probably have the best fan base of any of those clubs, or one of. Additionally the have produced the best players year after year in their academy who then get scooped up by the bigger clubs. Pool or Barca would be one thing, but every Prem fan hates Newcastle almost as they hate their own teams rivals.

The Hammers might not have the same amount of kit (jersey) presences amongst the frat boys who come back from studying abroad, but a big part of playing a team you don't traditionally play is the supporters they bring with them. The Hammers supporters will show MLS fans the good, the bad and the ugly side of what a real Football fan is. So in the end, it might end up being the best match up they could have hoped for after all...

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